Which one to choose in Hanoi
Tay Phuong Pagoda vs Tran Quoc Pagoda
Two temples in Hanoi. Tay Phuong Pagoda has 1 ticket or tour to book; Tran Quoc Pagoda has 3 tickets and tours to book. The table and the two notes below put them side by side; the full pages have what to see, the ticket and the timing for each.
Hanoi, Vietnam
Tay Phuong Pagoda is an active Buddhist temple and charges no admission in the ordinary way; visitors leave a donation if they wish. There is no ticket to book, and the only practical question is how to cover the distance from Hanoi. The pagoda lies about 40 km west of the city centre, in the rural Thach That district of greater Hanoi, so a car or motorbike is the usual way to get there; public buses run in the general direction but leave you with a long final stretch.
The most common organised option is a full-day trip from Hanoi to the western outskirts that joins several sights in one loop.
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Hanoi, Vietnam
Tran Quoc is an active Buddhist pagoda and entry is free; you walk in from the causeway at the gate, and donations for the upkeep of the temple are welcome. No ticket is needed or sold, and there is no booking system. The only practical requirement is clothing, since the monks turn away visitors in shorts or sleeveless tops.
Several kinds of outing that include the pagoda are sold online from Hanoi. The simplest is a guided walking tour of the Ba Dinh district, in which a local guide links the pagoda with the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum area, the One Pillar Pagoda and the lakes, explaining Vietnamese Buddhism and the history of the city as you go.
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